Process for retaining the lighter or more volatile oils contained in the product of oil-wells, &amp;c.



PRODUCT 0F OIL WELLS, &c. APPLICATION FILED FEB, I5. 19H.

Patented Dec. 28, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES s rnrnu'r ermee.

JOHN A. SNEE, OF'WEST'IEILIZABETH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR K y WEST ELIZABETH, PENNSYLVANIA.

`To FRANK sNEE, or

i-rRocEss For. nE'rAruIue THE LIGHTER on Mom: voLATILE oiLs CONTAINED nv THEV To all vwhom t may Concern:

vPRODUCT or oILWELLs, aw.

.Be it known that I, JOHN' A. SNE, a'resident of Test Elizabeth, in the countyv of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have 1n-v vented certain new and `1`1sefulImprove-,.

ments in Processes for Retaining the Lighter or More Volatile Oils Contained 'in the Product of Oil-Tells &c.,. of which the fol-v lowing is a specication; j

The primary object of'this invention is to providefor the retention of the lighter or more volatile oils contained in the prod `'uct of oil wells, gas wells, and'wells Vwhich. produce both oil and gas.

Under present practices incident to pumping and storing oil a large amount of these substances es-- capes to the atmosphere andA is entirely wasted. Vith wells` which produce only gas the substanceswhichl recover and pre.- serve are by-products which are now ordinarily consumed with the gas, the result being that much valuable material is wasted,

' or at least consumed in a way in which its greatest "alue is not' utilized. The method of recovering the lighter and vmore volatile substances to which the present invention is directed may thus be utilized in connection with so-'called natural gas, without regard to whether petroleum is present or absent in the well which produces such lgas. Or the invention may be utilized in the recovery yand retention of volatile products given 'o if by petrol um owing or pumped from wells; also tie lighter separable oils in the formdof gas or gaseous'vapor separated from the oil in an oil producing well.

It is -common practice to discharge the jproduct of oil, Wells, whether lowing or pumping wells, Vinto large open' tanks. Much of the volatile matter escapes and 1n time the surface ofthe ground and objects more or less close to such open tanks be- -come saturated with an oily deposit. The' taining and preserving practically all of the more volatile substances.

The volatile substances which it is the `aim of the present invention to retain and preserve are, generally stated, all. the oils i boiling between 30 C. and 150 C., some of them being cymogen, petroleum ether,

gasolene, ligroin and naphtha, aswell as p Specification of Letters Patent.

ysuch kerosene as is mechanically carried heretofore wasted, I am not concerned at` present with the separation of vthe lighter oils or substances one from another, and hence in practising the method, I prefer to use an absorbent that will effectively re- Patented Dec. 2%, jlvll.

Application led February 15, 1911. Serial No. 608,827.

'55 Some or all of these substances 4 tain the several substances and from which those substances may be subsequently reymoved by distillation or other processes. As

crude petroleum is the natural` lcarrier or absorbent for all of these substances, the invention is preferably ,practised in such way as to cause the substances to be absorbed by petroleum, and preferably crude petroleum, so that all may be properly segregated by the ordinaryrefining processes to which such petroleum, is subjected. However, the invention is not confined to,the use ofcrude petroleum as, for instance, in practising the sameby series process, as hereinafter explained, wherein the lighter oils are mingled with and retained by crude petroleum as the result of a' series of absorption processes, the'laststage may be accomplished .with an absorbentwhich is lou7V in volatile substances, for instance petroleum from which the gasolene has been distilled. And it will` be understood that partially A refined petroleum, or any other suitable absorbent, may be used instead of crude petroleum in any or all ,of the stages without departing from the invention.'

In the accompanyingv drawings, Figure l is aview partly in section and partly inl ele? vation ofapparatus which may be used in connection with an oil 'and gas producingY oil discharges Cthrough pipe." A

55 a capacity' for all the lighter oils? passing thereinto in Ythe form of bsorb thel same. entirely 8 into :a closed tank or receiver A, but

' ditional from container B traces of gaseous nected to the tubular stem 9 of the hollow perforated head orspreader 15. The gas which iows from the well, through the space between casing 6 and tubing 7, isv f also preferably discharged into stem 9 through'connection l0, and this connection I maybe provided with alvertical loop 11 Whlch "rises as high or higher than receiver A, Vand prevents the oil from backing through the gas line into the well. When the oil pressure in receiver A or in Vtubular stem 9 exceeds 'the forward pressure of the gas,.a check valve 10 in pipe. 10 closes and prevents the back-flow. In the latter case, when .the gas outlet is closed, the gas discharges from the well through' the pump, mingling with the oil pipe 8. In either case, the oil and gas discharge from the head or spreader 15 into the body of oil in container A, and the gas or gaseous. vapor rising fromthe surface of this body is conducted through pipe 12 to the bottom of a second closed 'container B, entering the latter preferably through like that within conhead orspreader l5 tainer A. The lighter or more volatile substances which are notarrested or absorbed by the petroleumin containei` A are thus subjected to a second absorption which consists preferably of crude petroleum like that A in the original container.

The absorbent, e., the petroleum, in container A is under more or less agitation due to the inflow of the oil and gas from the well, and hence the escape ofV the volatile substances. isl more readily accomplis ed than if the petroleum were quiescent, as in container B. Shile the volatile substances whichit is the purpose ofthe invention. container A in considerable volume they are materially vchecked and. absorbed in container B, vand may be still further absorbed by similarly vpassing' .thef volatile into a third container C. Obviously, tinued through va fourth or any desired adnumber of containers that may be found necessary for removing practically all the substances referred to from the discharge. If desired the last tank ofthe series may contain an-y absorbent that is norm lly `free of the lighter substances, for instance gasolene, and thus have such waste. This absorbent for may'begpetroleumv fromajwhich the gasolene 11. been or other suitable heavy discharging through to retain pass from products this series` process `may be con.

thus 'discharged beneath' gas or vapor as to and preclude'all the-last container more of the containers may be isolated from the rest and its .fluid contents removed, re, plenished, orlsubjected to any desired manipulation, such s drawing otl'I the contents of any one container into one or another of the other containers.

lVhile the. term natural gas as used herein designates such wells, and from liquid oil, it will applies as well to such gas as, mav be mingled with. the oil as the latterV discharges from the well but subsequently vseparates therefrom either as a gas or gaseous vapor. Also, as here used such term includes the o1l wells separate from the gas as is emitted from gas gaseous or vapor discharge from the surface of petroleum contained in tanks, Whether received into the tanks directly from wells or otherwise( It is the intentionl primarily to utilize thecrude petroleum from a Well for absorbing the volatile products of such well, but the invention is not thus limited. Obviously, the petroleum or othersuitable absorbent for use with gas from al Awell producing gas alone may be derived from any suitable source. .And obviously, apparatus' for practising theinvention may be variously embodied and arranged. I claim 1. .The method herein` describedconsisting in discharging all of the liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon ,products vof an\oil well into a liquid and gas container, and absorbing the gaseous hydrocarbons whicl'r accumulate within the container above the Lsurfaceof the liquid. Y 2. The method herein described consisting in discharging all yof the liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon products-of an oil well into a liquid'. and gas container beneath the vfluid level of the latter,'and removing and abil mto. an oil and gas container, passing the.

gaseousproductsfof thejwgll into the oil latter, and removing and absorbing the gaseitheoil. v n l In testimonywhere my in presence of two witnesses. 'l JOHN A SNEn-f VVitnesses':`r`

J. FM. vNrzaarr,

hesurface of the i115 ous products released om the surface off` be understood that the term 

